Jury Finds Escoto Guilty

Published April 23rd, 2014

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MIAMI, Fla - Jurors handed down a guilty verdict for a Miami man accused of killing his wife days after they were married.

It took jurors about 2 and a half hours Tuesday to convict Michel Escoto of first-degree murder after listening to about a month of testimony during the trial. Escoto was accused of killing his wife, Wendy Trapaga, in 2002 to collect her one million dollar life insurance policy.

Now he'll spend the rest of his life in prison. Escoto had been serving as his own attorney throughout the trial until Monday, when he had his stand-by attorney, Terence Lenamon, give the closing arguments.

Escoto was fingerprinted and led out of the courtroom in handcuffs as he awaits his May 7 sentencing